


I Dream of Tony

by indigomountian



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Airplane Crashes, Astral Projection, But Not Actually Drowning, But Not with Steve, Canonical Character Death, Comfort, Drowning, Dry Humping, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, Kid Tony Stark, M/M, Maria Stark's A+ Parenting, Nightmares, No Shower Sex, Pepper is so done, Porn with Feelings, Protective Steve Rogers, SHIELD, Snarky Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Sort Of, Time Skips, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Underage Drinking, Underage Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-27 22:39:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15034844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indigomountian/pseuds/indigomountian
Summary: He was going to have to put it in the water.Fuck.He hoped Peggy forgave him some day. Not that he’ll ever know if she does.He was saving thousands and thousands of lives. That’s what this was about.No other reason.The water was damn cold.====Steve crashed the plane into the Arctic and found himself in a delivery room. Why was he here? How was he here? Why couldn't he leave? Why was he forced to follow this tiny son of Howard Stark where ever he went?I will answer almost none of these questions but I hope you enjoy it anyway.





	I Dream of Tony

He was going to have to put it in the water.

Fuck.

He hoped Peggy forgave him some day. Not that he’ll ever know if she does.

He was saving thousands and thousands of lives. That’s what this was about.

No other reason.

The water was damn cold.

====

He took a gasping shouting breath, it tasted like brine but there was no water in his lungs. He wasn’t wet at all, not cold either. Actually he couldn’t feel much of anything.

Looking around he was standing in a hospital room. How did he get here? He certainly didn’t walk here on his own. No one had even turned to acknowledge that he was there, even with all the ruckus he had made just a second ago.  Abruptly he went pink because there was a lady with her legs up in the air in a set of stirrups not six feet from him. He turned away because it just wasn’t proper, him being here… where ever that was exactly.

“I’m so sorry, if someone could just tell me where I am- you know what, I’ll figure it out myself. I’m just gonna go. Sorry again,” with that he headed for the door, not one of the three nurses paid him any mind, all focused on the panting woman who Steve assumed was in labor.

The door wouldn’t open, the handle wouldn’t move at all. He could see out into the hall from the little window at the top and there were nurses running back and forth so he tried knocking to get someone to open it from the other side. They either didn’t hear him or were too busy to bother. Pushing against the door proved fruitless, it didn’t give an inch. What was this door made of? Even with all of his strength he couldn’t force it to give way.

“Uh, hello again. I am so sorry. I don’t know why, but I can’t open the door. I think it must be locked or something. Hello?” No one looked over. He moved closer, maybe they couldn’t hear him over the woman. She was rather loud and breathing strangely, but then trying to shove an entire tiny person out of your body was a rather painful thing Steve supposed.

He wondered why they hadn’t used twilight sleep, he remembered his ma telling him about it and how it took all the pain away. But he was no doctor, they probably had a reason. He just really wanted to leave, he was intruding, “Hi, I would really like to not be here. Could you tell me how get out? The door’s stuck.”

There was no reaction. Something like dread was starting to creep in. Steve waved his hand in a nurse’s face, she didn’t even blink!

“What the fuck is going on?” swearing was fine; they apparently couldn’t hear him anyway. He decided to sit out of the way and watch his feet until someone opened the door so he could escape.

The woman on the bed screamed and the midwife ran a cloth over her head and reassured her “Remember to breathe. You’re doing so well. Another big push and we’ll have the head.”

Steve felt like he should be sick to his stomach right now, with the serum though that didn’t happen. He had been through war. He had seen death and carnage. He had even been to hospitals; probably more than most anyone who didn’t work there themselves ever would, but this was really getting to him; the smell and the screaming, the fact that he couldn’t leave. God what was wrong with that door?

To distract himself he studied the room. After just a cursory glance he started looking harder because everything looked a bit odd didn’t it. He hadn’t noticed at first but now that he was really looking… there was something about hospitals in general, they always looked the same. No matter where you were. They had the same beds. Same curtains. Same paint. Even the nurses wore the same uniforms. It’s like it was all chosen at the same time, from the same place. This hospital was different. It was just little things. But there were so many little things.

It felt like it took hours for that woman to push the child out of her. He had learned the woman’s name was Maria. It was such a relief when Maria stopped screaming.

“It’s a boy, Maria. What will you name him?” The midwife asked, swaddling the screaming bundle. It seemed they had just traded one screaming person for another.

“Anthony Edward,” Maria sounded exhausted.

“That’s lovely; would you like me to invite your husband in?” Maria nodded but she didn’t look like she was really listening. The tiny wailing bundle was placed on her chest and Steve looked away again, red as a tomato because she was feeding him. He should definitely leave now.

Steve waited anxiously at the door for the midwife to open it, shifting from foot to foot. He had tried it twice more since but his results had been the same. He watched baffled and frustrated as she easily opened the door like there had never been anything wrong with it at all! When Steve tried to follow behind her and the other nurses he walked straight into something solid; which didn’t make any sense because he just watched three people go right through!

What was going on here?

He sat in his chair, pointedly not watching Maria and Anthony for as long as he could but eventually he heard a little tiny grunt and looked over. Maria had fallen asleep, leaving Anthony to roll a bit now that she wasn’t supporting him.

“Hey, watch it! He’s still so tiny; you don’t want to hurt him.” He jumped over and rearranged her precious cargo so he wouldn’t roll off entirely.

An indeterminate amount of time later, he really wished there were a clock in here, the midwife came back and instead of having Maria’s husband with her, she simply took little Anthony from his mother’s arms. Leaving her to sleep he supposed, but where was her husband? Surly he should have been pacing up the walls while his wife gave birth.

Steve decided to try again, following behind her. This time he did not run into any invisible walls. The rest of the hospital looked the same amount of vaguely indescribably off. As he attempted to explore he ran into the barrier again. This time it was moving though, pushing him along. He literally has no choice but to follow where it led.

The force dragged him down the hall and to a corridor of windows. Beyond the panes he could see rows of little babies in little basinets. Steve watched the midwife place Anthony in one such basinet, making a note on the chart hanging there to go along with the paper tag on his tiny hand. Steve moved forward and through the doorway. He could move the length of the room but couldn’t come back out the way he came.

Steve didn’t know what exactly was going on but he was beginning to suspect that the strange barrier was in some way related to Anthony.

Seeing the chart the nurse had written on, Steve reached for it hoping to at least glean some extra information if he couldn’t leave. The chart was stuck fast to the basinet. Which made no sense because he saw with his own two eyes the slight midwife pick it up as if it were nothing, which it _was_ because it was a piece of wood with some paper on it! After grappling with a clip board for an embarrassing amount of time Steve gave up and crouched in front of it instead.

He nearly fell over too. Written there in clean cursive was the date of birth, today’s date Steve knew as a fact, May twenty ninth nineteen seventy. How? Why? He was out of it for almost thirty years apparently… and he wasn’t a hundred percent sure he was with it _now_ , now that he thought about how much trouble he had making any kind of impact on the world around him. Maybe this was the afterlife? Somehow…

====

It took another two days before they moved Anthony for anything more than feeding and changing. In all that time Steve didn’t feel tired or hungry. Only annoyed and confused at the strange predicament he had found himself in. Not one person had noticed the man in blue and red leather standing in the middle of the nursery ward. Was he a ghost? That was ridiculous though...

This time he followed instead of being dragged. They ware led back to Maria’s room. She was in a dress and pearls, obviously leaving the hospital. A very tall man is stood next to her in a smart black suit, holding her bags. Steve assumed it to be her husband.

            The three of them made their way to the hospital entrance where Maria sat to wait for her husband to bring the car around. With far more room in the reception area Steve decided to experiment a bit, see how far he could go. The answer was not very far. Forty feet. That was it.

A car pulled up and Maria’s husband jumped out and opened up the back door for her. There was a tiny seat strapped in already for little Anthony, padded and everything. Unable to open the door himself Steve puzzled over how he was going to do this; the barrier wouldn’t let him not follow. He decided he would just have to run alongside the car because getting dragged alongside the car sounded _way_ less fun.

====

It was absolutely astonishing, when they finally stopped at the end of the gravel drive of a large mansion, Steve wasn’t out of breath at all. They had been driving what had to be almost an hour, sure the serum was great but he should have felt something.

He wandered in gawking at everything five steps behind Maria, who held Anthony. Steve didn’t think he had ever been in a house half as nice as this one. Just the front room was the size of the apartment he grew up in! Maria led him to a set of large dark wood doors, she knocked crisply and waited.

“What!” came a shout from inside. That was no way to talk to a lady, but Steve would at least give the man inside the benefit of the doubt that he didn’t know who was at the door, it was still rude anyway.

Maria entered, opening the large door as little as possible. Steve almost couldn’t squeeze through.

“You have a son.”

Instead of being happy or saying anything at all he waved dismissively and went back to a pile of papers on an obscenely large desk. Steve decided that if nobody could see him anyway he might as well be nosy so he went over to see what was so much more captivating than your brand new child. There were maps and charts, scribbles on paper, but more interesting than any of that was the man behind the desk. It was Howard Stark!

Maybe he would be able to help Steve out of this mess. He would at least know what happened to the Howling Commandos and Peggy.

“Howard! Hey, please can you see me? I need some help. I don’t understand what’s going on,” He didn’t look up, “Fuck!” what was he supposed to do now?

“His name is Anthony Edward. I thought you might like to know,” apparently she was satisfied with his grunt of acknowledgment; it was more than Steve got. She left as quickly as she came, sweeping down the hall.

She stopped the first person she spotted and handed her new baby to them. The startled maid panicked briefly before getting a proper hold on the infant. Maria kept on down the hallway.

Steve couldn’t believe that just happened. Shell shocked, he followed as the maid scurried off. Howard brushed off his wife and didn’t even seem to care that he was a father. Then Maria just pawned off her new born to the first warm body she saw. That poor child. It seemed the maid was in search of the tall man Steve had originally assumed to be Maria’s husband. She whispered at him in an agitated hiss while he nodded along before little Anthony changed hands once again. The maid fled back to her duties.

“It will be alright young sir; I will take care of you. I promise you that, even if I am the only one,” The tall, apparently British, man pledged while swaying gently.

====

It was weeks before Steve saw Maria again; she came in the middle of the night and sang a song in a language Steve thought might be Italian before departing. Jarvis, the tall man as Steve had found out, was a near constant presence; and when he could not be there it was the wet nurse. Steve had yet to see Howard again.

He had not eaten once since he came to be here at Stark manor. Hadn’t even felt the urge. Nor had he slept. He did watch baby Anthony constantly, it was the only thing _to_ do.

Steve had decided to call him Tony, even if no one else did. It’s not like they could hear him anyway to correct him.

====

By the time Tony started crawling around Maria had apparently decided he was marginally more interesting. Perhaps once a week she deigned to appear and hold him for the time it took to sing another Italian song. Howard had been spotted once in passing. Apparently he was going on a trip. He was looking for something.

====

Tony was growing in leaps and bounds. He was already walking at nine months and babbling like crazy. Sometimes Steve felt like Tony could see him. Just for a second here and there. So he started telling stories. Even if it was just so he didn’t go crazy. He hadn’t had an actual conversation in these nine months. Just the thought of someone actually looking at him and _seeing him_ was comforting enough that he was willing to pretend.

====

By two years old Tony was reading and reading well. Anything he could get his hands on was fair game. Maria and Howard may be apathetic but little Tony had the entire staff and Steve wrapped around his chubby little toddler fingers.

====

When he was four, Tony made a circuit board. Steve had been reading along with Tony for years now, trying to keep up with how technology was changing. That was how he knew just how amazing that little circuit board is.

Steve saw absolutely scarlet when Howard yelled at Tony, telling him what a waste of time it was. Steve _knew_ it’s a lie. It had to be as good as anything you could buy, and Tony _made it_. At four years old!

Tony sat on his bed, shaking out little tears. Steve’s heart gave a pang, how he wished he could punch Howard right in the face. Instead he crouched in front of Tony, one great big hand on either tiny quaking shoulder.

“You did so good Tony. That circuit board was amazing. Don’t let Howard convince you any different,” He hoped something got through. Tony stopped crying at lease, but then it could just be that he cried himself out because he curled up and fell to sleep right after.

====

Howard was going on another trip. It seemed he was looking for the body of Captain America. Steve thought it was just a little ironic that he was standing right there but whatever. The way Howard was taking you’d think Steve was the Pope or something. It’s amazing that he grew to like Howard less every day.

====

When he was seven Tony built an engine. Instead of taking it to Howard he entered it in the science fair at his school. He made national news. Steve couldn’t have been more proud. Howard looked like he sucked a lemon when the cameras weren’t on him.

“You did so good Tony,” Steve couldn’t tell if Tony beamed more because he heard what Steve was saying or he was just that happy. It didn’t really matter.

====

There was another trip to the arctic before Howard decided to ship Tony off to college. He was twelve. Jarvis attempted to talk him out of the decision but Howard was insistent. Maria didn’t look much like she cared. Steve was strongly opposed but no one ever listened to his suggestions. He got right up in Howard’s face and told him just what he thought but with him being completely invisible and intangible and inaudible, well the effect was lost. 

Tony went to MIT. It was hours away from home and he knew no one. There was no adult supervision unless you counted Steve, which Steve did not, so Tony went to parties and got drunk. People fawned over him with false praises and in general did anything they could to take advantage of him.

Then, like a knight in shining armor, James Rhodes rode in and saved him. He was kind and patient, and as far as Steve could tell had only good intentions. The two became thick as thieves. The drinking didn’t stop but it definitely lessened and Tony always had Rhodes there to watch his back when he was drunk as a skunk.  He kept all the vultures away too.

They reminded Steve of him and Bucky.

====

When Tony became truly interested in women it was far too easy for the fourteen year old to find an interested partner at a college campus. Steve glared at the woman as hard as he could but it didn’t do much considering he wasn’t visible. She was almost ten years older than Tony, and he was too young besides.

Steve sat in the corner with his back to the room and gnashed his teeth.

====

Sunset Bain was quite possibly the worst person on the face of the planet.

She was using Tony and he was too young to realize just how unfairly she was taking advantage of him. Steve wished he were a poltergeist so he could emanate malevolence and throw things, preferably at her, and scare the bitch off.

Her first offence was being twenty four and dating a not quite fifteen year old. Her second offence was dating a fifteen year old for his money. Her third in a long _long_ _long_ list was actual corporate sabotage. She was taking in absolutely every bit of information Tony gave her when she asked pointed suspicious questions and Steve was sure she was reporting back to her father at Baintronics. She also had no regard for Tony's feelings and barely even pretended otherwise. She accepted any gift Tony gave her and _never_ returned the sentiment with a gift of her own.

She broke it off after just a month with one last wham bam thank you ma’am. Apparently she got everything she was looking for that she thought she would reasonably be able to attain… Either that or Rhodey had put an end to it for her. He did seem to know the exact moment Tony needed him.

Steve was so grateful for James Rhodes.

====

Steve watched the alcohol induced creation of Tony Stark, an artificial intelligence, come to life. It was just amazing. Simple still, but a learning machine. Tony called him Dum-E. Steve felt the little bot deserved something better but then Tony was always bad with naming things.

He thinks back to the alley cat that Tony would feed on the way home from school. The eight year old called it Bald Patch because of the large bald scar tissue at the top of its head. Steve still laughed at that sometimes.

====

At nineteen Tony was graduating with three PHDs and a Masters, all in different fields. Steve had at least a working understanding in all of them. He could follow Tony when he did his science babble at least, that’s more than most people could say. Howard and Maria were supposed to come to congratulate him. Steve and Tony both suspect it was only for the publicity.

They didn’t show up.

Tony spent the night drinking his sorrows away.

The phone rang in the morning, they had died in a car crash. Drunk driving.

Steve wasn’t sure if Tony's more angry or distraught. He wished he could call Rhodes to watch over the teenager. Instead he tried to fold himself around Tony, covering him as best he could while Tony cried and shook and rocked on the floor.

“Shhh, Tony. You’ll make it through this. You’re so strong,” Steve rocked with him until Tony's tears faded off and he fell asleep.

====

Tony seemed to do better after a few days of black out drinking, grieving but not letting it overwhelm him; not three months late Jarvis passed. Cancer.

The drinking and partying only escalated after that. Steve wished he could do something, but wishing hadn’t gotten him anywhere yet and it wasn’t likely to start now. Rhodey was there though, watching to make sure he didn’t drown in his own vomit but he couldn’t actually stop Tony any more than Steve.

In his drunken haze Tony starting in on another science binge. It looked like another AI. It was so much more intricate than Dum-E. Steve was fairly sure Tony spent a month up to his eyes in whiskey while he built his AI.

He named it J.A.R.V.I.S. Just a rather very intelligent system. 

====

At twenty one Tony took over the company his father created. He focused on creating the future instead of the destruction of mankind. Although every once in a while Obadiah Stane, Howards business partner and a greasy snake oil salesman if Steve ever saw one, would blow in and demand a new weapons design.

Rhodes was well on his way up the ranks in the air force, but he stopped by as often as he could get leave. Steve could tell he still worried terribly, Steve did to.

Tony had developed a reputation as a playboy. It wasn’t _entirely_ unearned, there were more than a few one night stands, but Steve had never set eyes on more than half of the women claiming to have slept with him or fallen pregnant because of him. It drove Steve crazy that Tony didn’t bother to deny them. Sure the paternity suits he sent off to his lawyers but he never said to any of them ‘Sorry, but I’ve never met you and you’re definitely lying.’

====

Every once and a while, a young man would catch Tony's eye. Being in the room while two people had sex and being in no way a part of it was awkward, but when Tony did warm his bed with a more masculine for it was infinitely more interesting. The interest almost outweighed the awkward.

It seemed that erections were another thing that he couldn’t do in his weird state of limbo, but Steve did know what he liked and Tony had grown into a fine looking young man. Not that he actively watched but sometimes it was hard, not to mention _boring_ , to stare at the wall and think of England.

====

Tony finally fell into some sort of pattern; it was at least less destructive than the path he had been on. He moved to Malibu, and built a house there. He started gathering good people around him, such as Virginia “Pepper” Potts his new assistant, and Harold “Happy” Hogan his driver/body guard.

He still drank. He still partied. He also had people who were actually loyal to him besides a man half a world away and what Steve had finally accepted to be a ghost. It wasn’t perfect but Steve thought it might be enough.

====

            Obadiah Stane was making Tony go to Afghanistan for a weapons demonstration. Steve found this highly suspect due to the fact that he usually handled the weapons deals himself. Tony wasn’t any more keen on selling weapons than he was on making them, he’d rather push his future into everyone else’s now.

Steve was fairly sure he was right about Stane, because the convoy was attacked. There was a bomb right there. Steve tried to shield Tony from it but well… he was kind of a ghost, maybe. It didn’t work was the point. He could feel things but he couldn’t move them, and if it was in motion it would stay in motion regardless of him. This meant the bomb went right through him and into Tony. Oh god, no.

 The attacking force wiped almost half the unit.  They were here specifically for Tony, that was clear enough, because they homed in on him and dragged him off in all the fighting. Steve could see Rhodes, a Lieutenant Colonel now, barking orders and trying to gain control of the fight.

Steve followed along after Tony, watching the sand track red until they hoisted him up into their vehicle and begin their retreat. Their base seems to be a cave system in a mountain. They’re dragged through a maze of tunnels before the unceremoniously drop him on a metal table. 

There was a lot of arguing in foreign tongues and gesticulating. Another man was dragged into the room and given an order, supplemented with a waving gun to get the point across. Steve assumes the man was a doctor, or at least he hoped he was, because he washed his hands and a long pair of tweezers in a bucket of water and began plucking pieces of shrapnel right out of Tony's chest.

====

Steve wakes up. On a bed. What? He hasn’t slept in thirty eight years. And he didn’t go to sleep. He had been watching a man pick metal out of Tony's chest.

**OH GOD TONY!**

What if he was dead? Steve didn’t think he could handle that. He had to find him. Looking around the room, it looked like a 40s era hospital room. There was even a game from ’38 playing on the radio. Someone went to a lot of trouble to trick him because he was _positive_ he couldn’t have imagined thirty eight years worth of memories and certainly nothing so fantastic as Tony Stark.

A woman in an old fashioned nurse costume comes through the door, and it _was_ a costume. They didn’t even get it right! It was cheap fabric that made noise with every movement and she had obviously never worn it before, because there were still sharp creases from where it was folded into its original packaging. Steve was actually rather impressed that they had managed to find a _non_ -sexy nurses costume. It had to have been difficult.

“I don’t care who you are or what you want right now honestly. I need to go,” She looked taken aback but Steve didn’t care. He barreled past her and down the hall. She started shouting into an ear piece but Steve didn’t pay her any mind. From the outside it was _even more_ obviously a set. The bedroom he was in was actually at the center of a larger room. He saw an emergency fire exit and enjoyed setting off every alarm in the place on his way out. 

A look around told him he _was_ in modern day New York, he definitely hadn’t imagined anything. He could see a new building that had cropped up since the last time he was here. There was a great big STARK on the side of it. He hadn’t heard anything about that being built but if it didn’t give him an idea of where to start looking then he should probably quit while he was behind.

He could hear his pursuers behind him but with every minute he got farther and farther away from them. The tower was massive, and brand new. In fact Steve wasn’t even sure it was done yet. He careened through the lobby and straight to the closing elevator doors. If Tony was even here he’s going to be at the top. That’s just how he was.

After a second to catch his breath like he hasn’t had to in almost forty years he realized he was alive. It made him laugh. He hadn’t been a ghost after all!

“Hey Jarvis. Are you there, J?” Please be there, even if Tony wasn’t here, even if he was still in Afghanistan, Jarvis would know. He’d be able to tell Steve what his next move needed to be. He could trust Jarvis to have Tony's best interest at heart.

“I am. Who am I addressing, if I might ask?” That felt so amazing. Jarvis was the first person to talk to him in decades!

“This is Steve Rogers. Where is Tony? Is he ok? Is he here?”

“He is here, Mr. Rogers… I have observed that you bear a striking resemblance to Captain America, as well as sharing his name.”

“Right on all counts, buddy. Please, can you take me to Tony. I need to make sure he’s alright; not that I don’t believe you, I just want to see it with my own two eyes.” Steve was desperate, staring pleadingly into Jarvis’ camera.

There was a long silence; Steve figured it was Tony and Jarvis arguing over it. What if Tony didn’t want to see him? What would he do then? “Against my recommendation, Sir has agreed to see you,” That was one thing he didn’t have to worry about right now, although there was no telling that Tony wouldn’t tell him to leave later. He should have come up with a plan.

The elevator started moving and it didn’t take long to get to Tony's floor, the easy ride screamed of Tony's style, “Please follow the lights.”

The hallway was sleek and minimalist which meant Pepper was in control of the designs. A strip of blue LEDs that edged the floor and ceiling lit up and led him to the end of the right hallway. The back wall was made of a clear material that probably wasn’t actually glass, and there was Tony, in his lab on a stool, waiting as patiently as he ever could. Safe and sound and whole.

Steve reveled in the ability to physically open the door. It had been so long that it was almost a foreign concept, him being able to affect the world around him.

“I have to say, you really have the look down. You could even be the real thing. The facial recognition is a match.” He had Tony's entire attention. That was new and strange as well.

“I am. I can prove it too,” of course he could prove it, he _was_ Steve Rogers. The only question was how?

“Oh, do go on then. Do you know the entirety of the Star Spangled Man with a Plan?  That’s not really going to convince me, if that’s all it takes then _I’m_ the real Captain America,” Yeah, Tony was doing just fine, Steve thought he probably had a stupid grin on his face.

He suddenly knew just how to verify his identity.

“Do you remember the story about Peggy, Howard, and fondue?” Steve was sure he did because he could remember Tony asking Peggy to tell it over and over again every time she visited.

“Fuck!”

“That’s what I thought! But it turns out; it’s just melted cheese and bread.”

“Ok, so you’re Captain America, but that doesn’t answer the question of why you’re here? Or how?”

“That is far stranger and I’m not sure I _can_ actually answer it. I’ll just tell you what I do know.” Tony nodded for him to go on, “So I crashed the plane. Then I woke up, I couldn’t interact at all with the world around me but I was conscious and I could move around to a very limited degree. It was actually just in a perimeter around you actually.”

“Wait, I’m sorry. So you were awake and like astral projecting or whatever and you chose to spend your time following me?” When he said it like that it sounded weird. Ok it was weird; he still wished Tony hadn’t said it like that though.

“Well… _chose_ is a strong word. There wasn’t much choice at all. I physically could not get more than forty feet away.”

“How long were you stalking me? Captain America was stalking me,” he seemed to be having trouble with the concept.

“Tony, it’s not like I was trying to be creepy about it.”

“How long?”

“Until just now, I woke up in a fake bedroom a few blocks away, it was right after they dragged you into that cave,” Tony had obviously gotten out of that alright, Steve wasn’t sure how though.

“Every answer is only leading to more questions. First of all, the only cave I have ever or will ever be in was in Afghanistan and that was almost three years ago. Second of all, that’s when you _stopped_ stalking me. When did you start?”

“Three years?”

“Yeah, and you still haven’t answered.” Tony was like a dog with a bone, always. This was the first time Steve was getting hands on experience with it though.

“I was there when you were born,” They just kind of stared at each other for a long while.

“Well fuck. What do you say to something like that? Wait, shit! Are you telling me that you have been present for every time I fucked?”Of course that’s what he focused on.

“Well, I mean, aside from whatever you’ve gotten up to in the last three years.” Yeah, blushing was a thing he could do again. He rubbed the back of his neck to alleviate the prickling sensation gathering there.

“I don’t know what to do with this information.” How did he think Steve felt?

“Sir, although I know you are loath to be interrupted from… whatever is going on here, Director Fury is on the line.”

“Gee, I wonder what he could want…” Tony eyed Steve pointedly. He had no idea who Director Fury was but he was just happy people, or more specifically Tony, were looking at him. A large holoscreen popped into existence thanks to Jarvis.

“Stark, my agents are reporting a large blond man entered your building. He is delusional and highly dangerous; we need to take him in for questioning. Do not engage.”

“Wow. Really? You know if you were like two and a half minutes faster I _totally_ might have believed you, but you weren’t and I definitely don’t. There is no one who could more quickly identify whether or not your ‘delusional dangerous man’ really was Steve Rogers than yours truly so letting us talk worked against you here.” Steve couldn’t help the smirk on his face, he loved watching Tony tear people apart with words, “And because you decided to lie about it I think I’m going to keep him, thanks.” And ok, wow that was a weird flutter in his chest; his cheeks flush as well with the thought of Tony wanting to keep him. It’s much harder to deny he has a crush when he has bodily functions again.

Before the man, Director Fury, could begin his counter argument Jarvis ended the call.

“So you neglected to mention you escaped from _Shield_.”

“I didn’t realize I did. In fact I’m not sure I actually know what exactly that is. I might have heard Howard or Peg mention it in passing once or twice, but well they didn’t talk a lot around you. I know what you knew three years ago.” He had missed three years of Tony's life. There were things he didn’t know about Tony. Steve didn’t think he liked that.

“Shield, strategic homeland intervention enforcement and logistics division. It’s basically the continuation of the SSR,” He pointed to the emblem on Steve’s shirt, “They just let you waltz out of there huh?”

“Well, I might have taken one look at a shoddy set they tried to make look like the 40s and bolted. I don’t think they planned for that, but then they couldn’t have known just how aware I was of the passage of time.”

====

Steve was over the moon, Tony _wanted_ to spend time with him, and he was ok with Steve encroaching on his space.

They ate dinner on the couch in Tony's living room, so close their thighs touched. It was amazing. Chinese food was so different than he had imagined it would taste, and far different from anything he had eaten growing up or in the war.

He asked what had taken place after what he had seen happen in the cave but Tony only gave him a weary smile and a deflection, “Got to keep some mystery between us, right?”

Steve let it drop even though he wanted nothing more than to find out every detail. Tony only ever dug his heels in when people pushed and he wasn’t going to become one of those people. Steve switched over to lighter easier questions, like what new bits of future Tony had come up with. It was amazing to see the light of excitement in Tony's eyes and know it was him that put it there. He listened for hours, reveling in the chance to ask questions.

Tony gave him the room right next to his own, but when Steve tried to go to sleep it wouldn’t come. He was without the man he had spent a lifetime following. Maybe Tony wouldn’t mind if Steve sat with him a little while. Knocking lightly on the door Steve waited for a response, but instead of Tony inviting him in it was Jarvis who granted his access.

 “You may enter. Do not make me regret this trust, Captain Rogers.” Steve nodded, it was always best to heed Jarvis’ warnings, not that he would ever betray that trust anyway.

On the ostentation bed in the center of the room Tony was asleep but it was anything but peaceful. Tony practically thrashed caught in the grips of nightmares. How many times had Steve wanted to do something when he saw this? How many times had he futilely tried? Well now he could _actually_ do something. In three strides he was at the side of the bed.

“Tony, hey. It’s ok. I’ve got you, I'm right here, I can keep you safe now.” And just like that Tony was still, nightmare seeming to have passed. Steve no longer felt right being in Tony's room without his permission while the man slept, especially when he had a choice about it. He quietly crept out of the room. Maybe he would just ask Jarvis to play him a movie; that was a thing he could do now.

“Thank you Captain Rogers.” Came softly from a speaker above his head.

“Any time J, really. I'm not sure he’ll be happy when he finds out, but he needs all the rest he can get. Always has.”

“I agree whole heartedly. I feel we will get along well, Captain.”

“I know we will, J.”

The couch was too big and cold without Tony, but he needed sleep more than Steve needed to see him. He would have to get used to it at some point, might as well be now.

“Would you put on a movie for me, Jarvis? Maybe something Disney.” The TV flickered to life and opening credits started rolling. Steve was highly amused at Wall-e and how much he reminded Steve of Dum-E. Their names were even similar, he wished he could have seen Tony watch this for the first time.

====

“Jarvis, why is our guest sleeping on the couch? I thought I taught you better than this.”

“You did not give me any sort of guidance for scenarios involving insomniac super soldier veterans of world war two wandering into the living room.”

“The sass I have to deal with.”

“Good morning Tony, Jarvis. Sorry, I didn’t even realize I fell asleep. Didn’t mean to be in the way,” he couldn’t remember the last time he had been in someone’s way.

“Shit, I wasn’t trying to wake you or anything. Was the bed not ok? I can get you a different one, a better one, or-” Tony was going to start rambling about increasingly more extravagant things he could buy.

“The bed was fine, I just couldn’t sleep. Don’t buy a new one. Ok?” Steve explained gently. Tony always need to be told these sort of things in plain terms and very few people ever bothered, “It was just strange because you weren’t there is all, I’ll adjust.” _‘Eventually’_ he didn’t say.

“Oh, you could have woken me.”

“You need your sleep; you get little enough of it as it is Tony. I'm not going to be the cause. Besides sleeping itself is a bit alien at the moment, I haven’t done it in nearly forty years.”

Before Tony could reply with a snarky comment the elevator opened, revealing Pepper with a fat stack of documents. Probably things Tony had been putting off for weeks.

“Tony, just half an hour and then you won’t have to hear about this paperwork again until next mon-” She suddenly realized there were more people in the room than she had bargained for.  She got her _‘If you think I'm going to throw your one night stand out for you, you’re wrong!’_ look on her face and Steve went pink.

“No, we didn’t, I mean- uh… there’s not. Hi pepper…” Yeah, smooth Rogers. _Real smooth_. Pepper was now giving him a look that read a lot like _‘My life would be easier if you could just kick_ yourself _out.’_

Tony was visibly enjoying the show but he wasn’t cruel so he stepped in before Steve could embarrass himself any further. “Pepper, this is Steve Rogers Aka Captain America. Steve you apparently know Pepper already, along with every other facet of my life.”

Pepper just sighed; it was just the sort of thing that happened when you knew Tony Stark. “Sign the papers Tony, then you can get back to whatever this is.” And ok, what she was implying probably made much more sense but was not actually what was happening.

“No really, I am actually Steve Rogers. It’s not like, some weird sex thing where we…” he didn’t have to go into any more detail, and he should stop thinking about sex because that was inappropriate and would lead to inappropriate bodily responses, “I'm Steve Rogers, the real one.”

Pepper did not seem convinced. Tony looked about ready to start rolling on the floor laughing. Steve almost missed when no one could see him. But not quite.

“I can confirm that the man in front of you is the genuine article, Miss Potts.” Oh thank god for Jarvis. 

“Tony, what did you _do_?” Pepper’s unencumbered hand pinched the bridge of her nose like a headache was coming on.

“Why do I have to have done something? Is it not possible that Steve Rogers just wandered his way into my tower all on his own?” it was almost like Tony did ridiculous things all the time and everyone was used to it now.

“No, that seems far less likely.”

“Well, too bad. That’s exactly what happened!” Tony threw his hands up dramatically and stomped his foot. Pepper merely raised an eyebrow.

“That is actually very close to what happened, Ms. Potts.” Steve was sure this could have gone better somehow, but how he could get to that point was a mystery. Pepper was very unimpressed. Maybe if he had been wearing his uniform? Where had that thing gotten off to anyway? He wasn’t sure he even wanted to wear it again after almost forty years of gaudy red white and blue.

“And somehow Tony had the time to tell you all about me? Enough to recognize me on sight.” She turned that glare back onto Tony “I saw you for _lunch_ yesterday. When did you find the time to dig up Captain America?”

“I told you! He wandered his way to me all on his own. And he has apparently been creeping on me in my sleep forever.”

“Please stop saying it like that Tony, I wasn’t trying to be creepy.” Steve pressed his palms together, he wasn’t above begging.

“You know what? you win this round Tony. No paperwork today, this is too weird. I’m going to go back to my office. When you figure whatever this is out let me know,” Pepper looked so stressed, Steve couldn’t just let that go on. He knew just how hard Pepper worked, especially while trying to get Tony to do work.

“Leave the paperwork, Ms. Potts, I’ll get him to sign it.”

“Hey! No, that is not allowed. You don’t get to make me do paperwork! Pepper, take the papers with you. No!” She had apparently deemed Steve trustworthy enough for this task, and it would be a task, because she set the folders on the coffee table while making some very meaningful eye contact.

Her heels clicked primly as she sauntered out.

====

Tony sulked as he dutifully signed page after page. He hadn’t realized Steve had superpowers beyond his strength and speed, Steve knew Edwin Jarvis’ recipe for Blueberry Muffins. The deal was, Tony would sign all of the papers then and only then would he get the muffins.

“You play pretty dirty for Captain America…” Tony grumbled, hunched over his pile of papers.

“I fought Nazis, it was either fight dirty or die. There’s a difference between using tricks to win and being a terrible person you know.” Thank god Steve had a photographic memory because the last time he saw this recipe made in its entirety Tony was seven and was sat at the counter next to Jarvis so he could see what was happening.

“J, is Captain America trying to tell me the end justifies the means?”

“I mean, obviously there’s still a line, but yeah, to some extent at least. I certainly don’t feel guilty about bribing you with delicious muffins.” It was nice to see Tony smile, he hadn’t been doing a lot of that the last few years Steve knew him, at least not _real_ smiles.

“Captain America just admitted he stooped to bribery within hours of meeting me!” Tony crowed like it was some great victory. Steve couldn’t help but smile himself.

“Don’t flatter yourself Tony, I've know you forever. You respond very well to bribery in the form of baked goods, you always have. I am definitely going to capitalize on that. Now, finish the rest of your paperwork so you can actually _enjoy_ your bribe.” Steve laughed when Tony rolled his eyes and huffed, but the man kept on signing so Steve totally won that round.

By the time the first batch of muffins were cool enough to actually get them out of the pans Tony was bouncing on his toes beyond excited, papers long forgotten. Steve was pretty sure the paperwork was at least mostly finished, besides even if it wasn’t he could always withhold the rest of the blueberry deliciousness. He couldn’t deny Tony at least one when he begged with his eyes like that. He hoped Tony didn’t know he was making that face and never figured out what it did to Steve.

“Yesyesyesyes!” the man must be part chipmunk because the entire thing was in his mouth.

“Jarvis please take a picture of this and send it to Pepper. Tell her the paperwork is done too,” Tony's eyes went wide and he shook his head vigorously while making hand motions. “I’m not hearing any no’s. Are you J?”

“Mmmmmh!” Tony shouted.

“I have not heard anything that would negate me from sending the picture to Ms. Potts. She is checking her phone as we speak.” Jarvis was going to be a great coconspirator.

 Realizing that he was long past beaten, Tony ran back to his pile and started dynamically signing his name, scrambling to finish before Pepper inevitably came up to collect. Steve took pity on the man and poured a glass of milk so he could at least attempt to wash the _entire muffin_ down.

“I hope this teaches you not to bite off more than you can chew in the future. I wasn’t going to take your muffin from you; there was no reason for that.” Tony's jaw was working overtime to chew the muffin. Eventually he got it down.

“That was mean.” He complained, sounding all of six years old.

“But you learned something?”

“I learned that you’re mean.”

“I made you muffins!” Steve protested.

“You bribed me with those muffins! Used them against me. Took a picture of me in a compromising position, and then sent it to my employee.”

“I sent it to Pepper. She is hardly an employee. It’s like a technicality that she works for you. I sent it to _your friend_ Pepper. Would you feel better if I sent it to Rhodey too? Jarvis sent it to Rhodey too.” Steve was maybe being a little mean but it was all in good fun.

“No! Stop that you two!” Tony didn’t look angry, not really. He looked annoyed but in a good natured way.

“I deeply apologize Sir, by the time you informed me I should not send the photo it was already sent.”

“Everyone is against me!”

“That is hardly true Sir, both Captain Rogers and I are very much here for you.”

Instead of arguing further Tony humphed and signed the last page with a little extra flare. “There, done! Give me my muffins!”

“I _know_ you were raised with better manners than that,” Steve put his hands on his hips and gave a disapproving judgy face. Tony's eyes went wide with panic and he tried to figure out some way to salvage his sentence. Steve couldn’t hold it in a second longer and bent over in stitches with laughter.

“You ass! I thought you were- You ass!” Tony started beating him over the head with one of the manila folders that held his now signed papers. Steve laughed harder.

This was the scene Pepper walked back into. “Why I expected anything at all is beyond me. Is it all signed at least?”

Steve composed himself and straitened up. Pepper did seem impressed that everything at least looked completed. 

“Pepper! Yes, it’s all done. Steve was mean and bribed me with muffins then tried to choke me with them,” tattling to Pepper, that was low.

“Uh huh,” Pepper was not listening at all, rather checking through the papers to make sure they were done right. She grabbed one of the muffins on her way past.

“Hey! Those are mine,” just to fuck with him Steve shoved one in his own mouth, “Oh, so it’s ok when you do it? Hypocrite!”

Steve just shrugged and swallowed the muffin easily, “When I do it, I can actually fit the whole thing down my throat. Never did have much of a gag reflex, even less after the serum.”

Tony froze for a moment and turned pink. Huh, that was pretty. But why? Steve rewound what he just said and played it back again. Oh, that was why. He went a little pink himself but there was no point in trying to back track. He said it and it was in fact true, whatever way Tony wanted to think about it was fine with him. Maybe Tony would ask for a live demonstration.

The moment broke when the oven went off telling them the second batch of muffins was ready to come out.

====

He had finally gotten into a light doze when a voice jarred him from it, “Captain Rogers, I apologize for waking you but it is rather urgent.” Jarvis sounded as worried as he ever had.

“Jarvis? What- is Tony ok?”

“He is asleep and in distress. My attempts at rousing him have been unsuccessful.”

“I’ll be right there,” He just needed his shirt, if only he could find it. Ok, really did he need a shirt? Probably not. It was fine. He was already through his door and it was only two more steps to Tony's. He could hear little moans from inside.

When his eyes adjusted to the dim light in Tony's room he realized that the lights were still off. He had somehow missed it until right then, there was a light coming from Tony's chest.

“Jarvis, Tony's glowing?” he phrased it as a question because that was never something Tony was known to do.

“Yes, that is correct. He is also in distress.” Right, J had his priorities straight at least. Focus Rogers. Tony was practically flailing and Steve was worried because he had some glowing thing going on. He stepped right up to the bed and leaned in a bit.

“Shhh, Tony. It’s ok, I’m here now. I’ve got you,” that was all it took to make the nightmare go away. Just a soft voice. He was going to leave again but Tony's hand shot out and grabbed his own. Steve followed it up to his face and saw that Tony had woken despite his efforts.

“Stay, please stay.” And he sounded so wrecked. It’s not like Steve had anything against it, as a matter of fact it was everything he wanted in that moment, and so he didn’t bother fighting the hand tugging him gently onto the bed. He curled around Tony in the same way he always had after he had a nightmare and felt the man shudder under him. “Thank you. Thank you.”

“Whatever you need, Tony. Always,” He ran a hand up and down Tony's flank, hoping to soothe him back to sleep. He hummed one of Maria’s lullabies softly into Tony's ear and they fell asleep just like that with Tony's ear pressed tight to Steve’s chest so he could hear every rumble.

====

When Steve woke up he was warm and comfortable. Waking up was still a bizarre feeling, far easier that going to sleep though. There was a weight on his chest. He realized when he opened his eyes that the weight was Tony, open mouthed, sprawling on top of him.

He had to take a moment to collect himself because even like this Tony was the most beautiful man he had ever seen. Before he could figure out how to extricate himself from the man, Tony woke up and took everything in far quicker than Steve had.

“Oh, I guess that wasn’t a dream then…” Tony whispered against his chest, Steve repressed a shiver because of Tony's beard rasping against his bare chest.

“I guess not. Good morning?”

“Hi,” Tony shifted above him and kneed Steve’s morning wood. He saw stars, not in the good this is the best thing ever way either. That really hurt. He grit his teeth trying to work through it. “Oh god, I'm so sorry!”

“It’s fine. Just give me a minute,” wow, ok the pain had done exactly nothing to diminish his erection.

“I could kiss it and make it better,” Tony batted his eyelashes and gave a flirty smile, suddenly the pain was gone. Steve wasn’t a saint though, and he didn’t have the strength to turn an offer like that down. He licked his lips at just the thought of it.

“I think that would help, yes.”

Tony looked a little surprised Steve had accepted his offer but definitely didn’t seem to be against following through on it. Steve surged up and pressed their lips together. Tony tasted like morning breath and stale coffee but it was still perfect. They kept going for as long as Tony could take, his need to breathe finally winning out.

“Wow,” Tony looked a little dazed; his lips were plump and his cheeks ruddy. Steve was so ridiculously turned on from just that, he loved that he was the one who put that look on Tony's face this time, “That’s not quite the kiss I had in mind, but wow.”

“Oh please don’t let me stop you. Kiss where ever you like.” To follow his words Steve laid back and spread his arms out in invitation.

“It’s like you’re actively trying to kill me.”

“This is the strangest murder I’ve ever heard of, I don’t think I'm doing it right.”

“You’re perfect,” Tony probably didn’t mean to say that because he was blushing hard and he ducked into the hollow of Steve’s clavicle. The words sent Steve’s stomach fluttering and the long hot line Tony drew with his tongue down Steve’s chest sent a completely different set of signals.  

A little nip at his peck made Steve buck up into Tony, he hadn’t been expecting that. Their groins connected and that felt amazing in and of itself. Maybe a little too good actually, he should probably stop doing that before he embarrassed himself.

“Little sensitive are we?” The bastard was smirking; he knew exactly what he was doing to Steve. The flat of Tony’s tongue swiped over his peaked nipple and Steve couldn’t help bucking up again.

“No one has touched me in thirty eight years, in any way at all. More than a little touch starved. Please don’t stop.”

“Wasn’t planning on it.” Nails scraped down his flanks and send goose bumps rising everywhere, “Now, I believe I offered to kiss you better. Right here wasn’t it?” Tony palmed him through the sleep pants he had borrowed. They were straining to hold everything in, a little small on him even considering they belonged to Rhodey not Tony.

“Please Tony!” he was going to come like shot, mortifyingly quick, “I can’t handle teasing right now. Please.”

He might have whimpered as Tony slid the pants down around his knees. But the air was cold and every little thing Tony did was bringing him closer to the edge; the line of heat down his body, the little puffs of breath against his erection, the little hums of approval as he formulated his next move.

 Then without any warning at all Tony started sucking hard at the head of his cock. He practically came off the bed, holding onto his self control by the skin of his teeth. He glared down at the man who was actually trying innocent doe eyes while suckling on his cockhead. Tony gave a swirl of his tongue before pulling off.

“What? You said not to tease,” like he was just following orders. When Steve didn’t reply he went back to his torture like he wasn’t the one that was going to kill Steve.

Along with the wonderfully agonizing attention to his head Tony started working the shaft with one hand and his other started questing lower. Steve gasped and gave an aborted little thrust. He spread his legs wider hoping to encourage those clever fingers, he’d never done this himself but he certainly knew enough about it and he was sure Tony would make it good.

“Steve?” Tony pulled off again, did the man hate him?

“Yes, please. I want it.” he had seen the act enough times to know he wanted to try it at least. He felt desperate for something more, suddenly feeling every moment of all the years he hadn’t been able to have this.

“Have you ever done this before?” it was sweet that Tony cared enough to ask, later he would be touched that Tony stopped to check in but right now it was only adding to his pent up frustration.

“Not like this, not with a man. It’s not like I don’t know how it goes though. Please Tony,” he punctuated his plea with another push up into the hand still around his cock.

“Ok, yeah. Like I could say no to that. Let me know if you don’t like it. If-”

“I promise, if anything is wrong or I don’t like it I will let you know. Please fuck me.”

“Oh, wow. Yeah that is so ridiculously hot.” Tony's eyes were dark and he was definitely into this, not that Steve was super worried, Tony was good at voicing his opinions for everyone to hear. His erection bobbed as he watched Tony pull his sleep pants the rest of the way off. He was now completely naked while Tony hadn’t even started to undress.

That was unfair and he wouldn’t let it stand. All at once he flipped them and he was the one above Tony. Steve ran a hand over the exposed skin where the shirt had ridden up Tony's belly, he pushed it higher inch by inch, and savoring the new skin as it came into view. Before he got it all the way up though Tony grabbed his wrists.

“There’s- you don’t want to see.” He wouldn’t meet Steve’s eyes, what he had to be ashamed of Steve could only begin to guess at. Did he think the scars he had were ugly? Steve knew he had to have scars, had seen the bomb that gave them to him. Steve wouldn’t judge him. Was it the light that Steve could still see emanating from his breast bone? Steve was in fact very interested in seeing that.

“Yes, I do.” Tony shook his head, like Steve would lie about this, “It will be fine, I promise. We can leave the shirt on if you really want, but I would like to see. You can trust me; I’ll prove that to you eventually. I’m here for you Tony.”

Neither of them moved for a long minute. Tony was trembling lightly, so Steve pet back and forth over the already exposed skin. All of the burning desperate need from before was gone, suddenly he felt like they could stay here just like this all morning and he would be happy.

“Shh, it’s ok Tony. Whatever you need. Whatever you want to give me and nothing more. We can just sit here if that’s all you want. It’s ok.” Steve whispered over and over, trying to exude comfort.

Slowly Tony calmed again, “Sorry. I killed the mood didn’t I?”

“It’s fine Tony. Your comfort is far more important. If you’re not into it then that’s that.” Steve bussed a kiss against Tony's temple.

“I am! I just- I was… am scared.” Tony was twisting his own shirt between his hands like he was going to take it off whether he was comfortable with that or not.

“It’s ok if you’re scared. If you don’t want to do this right now, or at all then we won’t.”

“It’s not the sex I’m afraid of. Its just- you don’t know. You have no idea what it is I have under here. What if you’re completely disgusted by it? What if- you wouldn’t but people have tried to hurt me with it before.” Tony's voice got smaller and smaller until it was barely a whisper at the end. Steve took one of his hands in his own and gently rubbed his thumb over the knuckles, trying to soothe him.

“I never want to hurt you, I hate seeing you in pain. And no matter what you might have under there, it’s going to be better than seeing you just before you had it. I'm guessing that’s when you acquired whatever it is?” Steve shuddered at the thought of Tony laid out on a table as a man picked metal out of his chest. The feeling of helpless hopelessness and the ringing thought of ‘what if he doesn’t make it?’

“Yeah, that’s where I got it… It’s a miniaturized arc reactor.” Tony hesitated before he seemed to resolve himself to a decision. With the hand that wasn’t held in Steve’s he pulled his shirt up and over his head until it was hanging there on his one elbow. He was shaking again but he was stubbornly waiting for the shoe that was never going to drop if Steve had a choice in the matter.

The glow, the _miniature arc reactor_ was beautiful. It was a perfectly round piece of future imbedded in Tony's sternum. “I thought it wasn’t possible to make the arc reactor any smaller. I thought it took up an entire warehouse.”

“Yeah well, nobody really tried to hard before. And I had a great reason to try much harder.” Tony was shifting visibly uncomfortable.

“It’s stunning, Tony.” Steve leaned in and kissed a raised knot of scar tissue over Tony's heart, he would have liked to explore around the reactor but he didn’t want to push Tony further than he could take. Tony let out a little gasp and wriggled under him in a satisfying way.

“Little sensitive are we?” Steve couldn’t help himself. Tony only nodded. Steve left lingering kisses on all of the scars he could see that weren’t right around the arc reactor. It didn’t matter that they had stopped because they had found their way right back. This time Tony was the one pleading for more though. “What do you want Tony? Anything. Anything at all, you just have to tell me and it’s yours.”

“You! I want you, please.” Tony sounded breathless and as desperate as Steve felt.

“You have me. Tell me what you need sweetheart,” Steve kissed up his jaw and rolled his hips down. That felt so good.

“This, just this. More please.” Tony gripped at his waist and met the next roll half way, that was even better.

“Of course. Whatever you need.” He brought their lips together again and the moment was perfect. His hands roamed and groped up and down occasionally lingering when he got a gasp or a moan.

Tony arched up into him and made the same sound he always did when he came, but this time it was Steve that brought him there with his hands and lips and hips. The thought of it was what brought him to his own climax.

They were sticky and sweaty and Tony was still wearing his boxers but it was just right. He wrapped Tony up in his arms and just lay there enjoying the moment. He would get them cleaned up in a minute.

====

Steve came around again to the much less pleasant sensation of something being peeled off of his body. That something was Tony's body. They were stuck together with come and sweat. Gross.

“Sorry, guess I fell asleep. I did mean to clean us up.”

“Its fine. I'm going to take a shower,” Tony stripped off the boxers that were most certainly as disgustingly stuck to him as Steve had been. Steve could hear the shower start on its own thanks to Jarvis as Tony wandered to the ensuite bathroom. He stopped at the doorway and looked back at Steve, “Are you going to join me?”

Steve was pressed against his back before Tony finished his sentence.

“Wow, that’s that super soldier speed, huh?” Tony blinked at him and leaned back into his chest.

“Yeah. Shower?”

“Just to let you know, shower sex is right out. I learned my lesson the hard way.”

“Oh, I remember. I laughed all the way to the emergency room with Rhodey.” Right after he finished freaking out about all the blood, once he realized Tony was going to be just fine. He had slipped and bitten off the very tip of his tongue and needed stitches. The girl who he had been trying to have inadvisable shower sex with was wigged out by all the blood and left, she had at least called Rhodey for him. She was not a keeper.

“You are so mean to me.”

“Mmmh, I could make it up to you later.” Steve slid a hand around to rest it over Tony's stomach and pull them closer together.

“You had better,” Tony probably wanted it to sound more commanding than breathless but that wasn’t how it worked out. Steve laughed and nudged him under the spray.

“So I know what an arc reactor does, but what is it doing in your chest?” He asked while soaping up his hands, prepared to run them over every last inch of Tony's body.

“Well, it’s uh-” he broke off as Steve ran his hands over the succulent perky globes of the man’s ass, he hummed to prompt Tony on, “It’s powering an electro magnet. Yinsen couldn’t chase down every piece of shrapnel; this is keeping the rest of it from wiggling its way into my heart and killing me.”

 “It really is beautiful you know. Tell me how you managed to get it to a hundredth the size?” the science behind it was riveting and Steve listened with rapt attention as he shampooed Tony's hair.

“Are you actually following this at all?”

“Every word. I may not be able to come up with the things you do, but I can comprehend them.”

“Really?” it was sad that Tony always had to hold back and dumb himself down for people, but Steve understood him almost always. It would be even easier now that he could ask questions to clarify what he didn’t get on the first go around.

“Really really. I took all the same classes as you, although _my_ education was free and I have never written a paper or a dissertation.” Tony grinned at him like a madman and started explaining even faster than before. He couldn’t help but grin as he soaped up his own hair.

====

“So is this going to be the new thing, you taking over my kitchen?” Tony was sitting at the table picking at a muffin while he watched Steve make him an omelet.

“You say that like I’m monopolizing on your space. Have you ever once used this kitchen?”

“That’s an unfair question. This is a new kitchen and-” he started to argue like he could make anything other than coffee.

“Ok the, have you ever used the kitchen in the Malibu house? Or is that an unfair question too?” Steve could tell Tony knew he was beat.

“Does mine have onion in it?”

“And mushrooms.” Steve slid the mostly perfect omelet onto a plate and in front of Tony. The hash browns were next from where they were being kept warm in the microwave. “have a piece of fruit as well.”

“Yes mother.” Tony dutifully peeled a banana and made a show of it. licking down its length before taking an obscenely large bite.

“Cute. Eat your breakfast.” Steve turned back to the stove and started cracking eggs again. An omelet wasn’t going to cut it for his enhanced metabolism. He finished off the dozen and added all the vegetables he had prepped. Scrambled was good enough for him.

“Are you going to eat _all that?_ ”

Tony watched as he worked through the entire plate of eggs before moving on the hash browns.  “Doctor Erskine turned me into a bottomless pit.” Steve made clear while eating a bagel.

“It’s like watching a train wreck, I want to turn away but I just can’t.”

“Sir, Director Fury is on the line again.”

Tony sighed, “Of course he is, Let him through J.” a holoscreen sprang up and the same angry black man from before was there. “What can we do for you today Nick?”

“I want to talk to Captain Rogers,” he demanded, no manners at all.

“Captain Rogers is listening.” Steve wasn’t sure he much liked this Nick Fury.

“Captain, you are still a member of the US military. I’m ordering you to present yourself back at shield headquarters and await further orders.”

“In that case Sir, I resign my commission.”

“You can’t do that, Rogers. Unless you want to also give up you claim on the title of Captain America? I’m sure we could find someone else to fill those boots.”

“Actually, you can’t. Howard Stark trademarked the name and anything to do with it a good thirty years ago when someone tried to make an absolutely awful inaccurate movie. I’m sure he had systems put in place to keep it that way.” Steve may have come to hate the man but he could admit Howard was thorough.

“So what, you’re going to hide in the shadow of the man’s son? You know nothing about Tony Stark, he is a menace and he _will_ corrupt you.” Steve just laughed and motioned for Jarvis to cut the connection.

“You just quit the military. Just like that?”

“Why not? I wore that damn costume for almost forty years; I was getting sick of looking at it. You don’t mind if I stay, do you?” Steve realized he should have asked before he burned his only other bridge in the twenty first century.

“Mind? Of course I don’t mind! Stay forever. I mean, uh,” The blush across his cheeks was charming. Steve gathered him up in a hug, reveling in the warmth and the smile he could feel pressed into his chest.

“Thanks Tony,” Steve was pretty ok with forever.

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea how to end things so this is where I decided to stop. What do you think? I could technically keep going. Or we could all forget this ever existed. Let me know.


End file.
